Budget 2012: Analysis

WHEN George Osborne finally sat down at the end of his Budget speech the biggest roar of approval came from the Lib Dem benches.

David Cameron pats the arm of George Osborne after he delivered his Budget statement []

Nick Clegg’s raggle-taggle army of MPs were on their feet, waving their order papers and whooping with joy as if it had been all their own work.

In contrast, many Tories looked a little flummoxed by the Chancellor’s soak-the-rich rhetoric and did not join the celebrations with great enthusiasm.

Lib Dems would have us believe this was the first genuinely Liberal Budget since the days of David Lloyd George. It certainly means their manifesto pledge to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 is close to being delivered.

Yet there were plenty of robust Conservative measures that should have delighted the Tory faithful. Big cuts in corporation tax, the end of the spiteful 50p income tax top rate and an overall reduction in the tax burden will spur economic growth.

Mr Osborne’s delivery was his best yet, surviving the hour-long speech without getting hoarse and squeaky. But somehow his tax-cutting message was lost in a welter of wacky schemes and petty gestures meant to signal that the wealthy are being squeezed.

many Tories looked a little flummoxed by the Chancellor’s soak-the-rich rhetoric and did not join the celebrations with great enthusiasm

There was a cobbled-together “mansion tax” created through tinkering with stamp duty, there was extra VAT on rotisserie chickens from supermarkets and even a tax relief for cartoons. Worst of all, the big cut in income tax was partly paid for by a nasty surprise raid on pensioners. And we thought stealth taxes had gone out with Gordon Brown.

All these pettifogging measures made the Budget feel a little muddled, and, well, a bit Lib Dem-ish.

To be fair, the impact of yesterday’s event was blunted by the fact that so many measures had been leaked. Grumpy Tory aides blamed those naughty Lib Dems for ruining Mr Osborne’s big day.

Yet there was more to the whiff of anti-climax than that.

At a time when the country was crying out for bold measures to get the economy moving, this felt more like a fudge cooked up to keep a splintering Coalition together.

Many voters will remain unconvinced that this Government really has a vision for a better Britain.